As if he hadn’t just come moments ago, his cockhead — still twitching — rubbed slowly and lightly against the space between Munyeong’s perineum and his tightly clenched entrance. Munyeong went pale and shook his head hard.
“No, don’t…. Don’t——”
“I know. I’m not putting it in.”
When Munyeong struggled against him, he clicked his tongue in annoyance and gripped the squirming hips firmly in place.
“…Just rubbing, that’s all.”
“…….”
“You’re the one who asked for it. Hmm?”
He insisted, smearing the pre-cum gathered at his tip slowly around the tightly clenched rim. His viscous fluid left a sticky trail between the folds. A fierce, wild light drifted in Yeon Haejeong’s eyes as he stared down at the sight. He worked his jaw with displeasure and dragged his tongue slowly across his lips. He looked exactly like a predator growling in front of prey it couldn’t devour. Munyeong stared up at him pale-faced, heart in his throat.
Something told him this wasn’t going to end anytime soon. Munyeong turned his gaze away with a pained expression and stared up at the ceiling. The feeling of having fallen into a deep, inescapable pit came over him and settled in.
**
He dreamed of childhood for the first time in a long while.
Munyeong’s one-sided love — which had begun in earnest after the theft incident — grew larger with time. Yeon Haejeong’s small act of kindness had been more than enough to make Munyeong’s heart swell. He was young then, and no matter how hard he tried to hide his feelings, they wouldn’t be hidden. He followed Yeon Haejeong with his eyes every day, and with the money he earned from his early morning part-time job, he would buy snacks and slip them quietly into Yeon Haejeong’s locker. There was so much he felt grateful for. He wanted to repay that feeling somehow, in any way he could.
On top of that, whenever Munyeong worked up the courage to say hello, Yeon Haejeong would seem to hesitate for a moment — but he never ignored it. Hi, Haejeong. If Munyeong offered it casually, Yeon Haejeong would shoot him a displeased sidelong look and reply, Hi, whatever, as if the greeting embarrassed him, before walking on. Just the fact that he didn’t ignore him was enough. It made Munyeong’s heart lift even more. It felt as though his relationship with Yeon Haejeong had evolved, at least to something like a passing acquaintance.
But it didn’t take long to realize that had been a hollow expectation — something presumptuous and out of place. Whether his simple gestures had been blown wildly out of proportion as gossip among the class, the group that picked on him whenever they were bored began to drift closer, exchanging glances among themselves, snickering under their breath.
“Hey you, is it true?”
Before PE class, one of the classmates came up to him and sneered. Munyeong was in the middle of changing into his gym clothes, and he looked up with wide, confused eyes — and the classmate swatted him across the head.
Thwack! His head snapped sideways, skull rattling, vision blurring for a moment.
“How dare you look up at me.”
It was an everyday occurrence. Most of the class treated him as either invisible or as someone who could be handled however they liked — so Munyeong lowered his head with a practiced expression. He rubbed the sore spot quietly with his hand.
“……Sorry.”
Munyeong muttered quietly and hunched his shoulders.
“No, seriously — is it true?”
Three or four of them had surrounded Munyeong. He didn’t know what he’d done this time to draw their attention, and he answered quietly to the blunt question.
“…I don’t know what you mean….”
“Don’t play dumb. You like Yeon Haejeong.”
The classmates surrounding him made strange sounds and snickered. Munyeong’s head snapped up, startled.
“Wh-wh-what do you…….”
“There’s more than one or two people who’ve seen you creeping after Yeon Haejeong.”
“…….”
“And apparently every morning you’re the first one in and messing around with Yeon Haejeong’s locker. What, are you putting condoms in there?”
“N-n-no, no, I’m not.”
Munyeong waved both hands with an aggrieved expression and hurried to deny it. Then he got hit on the opposite side of his head. Thwack! His face swung in the other direction. The punch had been thrown with a phone in hand, and the pain that crashed in was like being hit by a rock — his skull shook and his vision blurred for a moment.
“Ngh…….”
“Yeah right, fuck off. The way you’ve been eyeing Yeon Haejeong lately has not been normal.”
“…….”
“Eugh — out of all things, a homo now? You never cease to amaze. Huh?”
They shoved him with flicks to the forehead this time, tossing out the mockery. Their faces were alight with the thrill of having found a good target. Munyeong looked around, cornered, and stole a glance at Yeon Haejeong through the gaps between the classmates. He was sitting with a blank expression, still in his uniform, looking at his phone. Even with his own name flying around loudly, he looked entirely unconcerned.
“That beggar’s got the nerve to set his sights high.”
“What, you want a rich boyfriend?”
“Just sell your body, seriously.”
They took turns throwing words and shoved his head this way and that, smacking the back of it. The rest of the class didn’t even look over. As if it were a routine they had no interest in, they ignored it all and gathered in little groups, laughing and chattering among themselves as though nothing was there.
That was when it happened.
Screeeech——!
A jarring metallic screech rang hard through the classroom. The sound scraped against every eardrum, and every student in the room stopped what they were doing and turned toward the source.
“Ah, what the—, who——”
One of the classmates standing in front of Munyeong turned his head — and there was Yeon Haejeong, having kicked his chair back with full force as he stood up. Yeon Haejeong, now with everyone’s attention on him, swept his gaze across the classroom with an aggressive look, as if asking what the hell they were all staring at.
“The fuck are you looking at.”
He threw the curse at the crowd, and everyone quietly averted their eyes. Among them, one of the boys who had been tormenting Munyeong turned his gaze — and happened to make direct eye contact with Yeon Haejeong.
“The hell are you staring at. You got something to say?”
Harsh and aggressive. Yeon Haejeong was the kind of troublemaker no one in the class could touch back then either. The boy who had been about to hurl a mouthful of insults gave a dry, staged cough and smoothly changed course.
“…Nothing, it’s just…. Oh, right. Hey, this guy says he likes you.”
Shrinking from that gaze, the boy pivoted suddenly and pointed at Munyeong — tattling, like it was a card he was playing on purpose. As though it had worked out perfectly, his eyes lit up and he threw in another line to conjure a common enemy.
“He’s completely out of his mind. I’m telling you, these kinds of guys — the moment you give them an inch——”
“Move.”
The one who cut off the boy’s pleased rambling was Yeon Haejeong. He fixed his eyes on the boy flatly, his expression unreadable. His face was so unmoved that the boy’s cheap grin faltered with embarrassment.
“…Huh?”
“I said move, asshole.”
“…….”
“Can’t you see your worthless little body is blocking the door?”
Yeon Haejeong jerked his chin toward the classroom door behind the boy and continued roughly. His entire manner said he had zero interest in anything they were saying. His only concern was getting through, and the boy was standing in the way of the door.
At Yeon Haejeong’s single sharp rebuke, the group exchanged embarrassed glances and quietly shuffled out of the way. They were known as one of the nastier groups in school — and yet one word from Yeon Haejeong had them completely frozen. Not surprising, given the difference in build and height alone. And with a temper like his — where even a minor provocation could end in a fistfight — no one was eager to come at him.
Once they cleared the way, Yeon Haejeong finally stuffed both hands into his uniform pockets and strolled out of the classroom without a backward glance. A hush fell over the noisy, disordered room. The group, thoroughly humiliated, chewed out curses under their breath and kicked the poor classroom door for good measure. Then they slipped out in the opposite direction Yeon Haejeong had gone, as if fleeing.
Only then did Munyeong feel free. He stared blankly after the direction Yeon Haejeong had disappeared in. His heart had dropped at the thought that his feelings had been found out — but Yeon Haejeong hadn’t cared at all. Whether that was fortunate or not, he couldn’t say — but for now, he could breathe again.
**
Munyeong sat alone on the bleacher steps overlooking the school grounds, staring absently down at his classmates below. They had broken off into groups — some playing soccer, some basketball, some badminton, each enjoying their sport of choice. But Munyeong, with nowhere to belong among any of them, simply sat there alone, drifting.
The soccer players scored a goal and burst into cheers. The badminton players missed a shuttlecock and dissolved into laughter at each other. It was all peaceful and ordinary. He had thought he was the only one who didn’t belong in any of it — and then, unexpectedly, there was someone else lying in the bleachers below the fence. It was Yeon Haejeong, headphones on, lying there trying to sleep. Though of course, their situations were different. Munyeong was someone who couldn’t fit in. Yeon Haejeong was simply someone who chose not to.
